Public school fan Matt Damon has decided to send his own kids to private school.
As we have previously reported , the Damon family is relocating from New York City to Los Angeles.
The Elysium star is known for his support of teachers unions and more funding for public schools and opposition to merit pay initiatives in the public schools. The actor/activist apparently also opposes school choice.
In an interview with the Guardian of the UK, Damon had this to say about putting his own kids in private school which seems to run counter to his past public school advocacy:
“Sending our kids in my family to private school was a big, big, big deal. And it was a giant family discussion. But it was a circular conversation, really, because ultimately we don’t have a choice. I mean, I pay for a private education and I’m trying to get the one that most matches the public education that I had, but that kind of progressive education no longer exists in the public system. It’s unfair. So we agitate about those things, and try to change them, and try to change the policy, but you know, it’s a tough one. It’s too bad most of the kids languishing in L.A.’s worst schools don’t have the resources to do the same.”
HotAir.com columnist Mary Katherine Ham had this to say about Matt Damon sending his kids to private school when they arrive in Los Angeles: “But, by the liberal logic, aren’t kids like Damon’s just as important a resource for public schools? Kids with involved parents who agitate for change? I sympathize with his desire to put his kids where he knows they’ll get a good education, but what better way to agitate for change than from within? That’s the advice union reps and liberals are always giving school-choice activists. Don’t abandon the system! Fix it! When it comes to his kids, though, Damon would rather peace out.”
Damon’s decision didn’t sit well with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is known for advocating education reform:
Matt Damon Refuses to Enroll Kids in Los Angeles Public Schools. Choice ok for Damon, why not everyone else? http://t.co/yHrTbakeIW
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) August 6, 2013
Matt Damon wouldn’t be the first celebrity or politician vocally supporting public schools that makes a decision to enroll his/her own children in private school. In a 2011 Save Our Rally in Washington DC, however, Matt Damon said among other things that “I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to kindergarten through my senior year in high school, I went to public schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.”
